Amanda writes: I wanted to tell you about the success I had at the
Acquire the Fire event in Portland, Oregon. I signed up to volunteer as
an usher so I was actually inside the event. I think that people were
more receptive to taking the pamphlet since I was inside the venue. I
handed out all but 30 of the box [about 270 booklets]. I was eventually
asked to stop handing them out.

David writes: My wife and I arrived at the Little Rock, AR Newsboy
Winter Jam Tour Spectacular 1 ¾ hours early, and we had passed out a lot
of booklets to people in lines at the doors. However 1 ¼ before the
event the doors shut and the announcement was made that all seats were
sold! We were able to hand out more to those milling around in
disappointment and late arrivals for another 1/2 hour. We handed out
approximately 300 booklets in total.

I am taking a break from my series exploring Christianity and animal
rights to reflect on the recent assassination of Osama Bin Laden. Like
many Americans, I find myself relieved by his killing, since he has been
dedicated to killing people. However, I have been troubled by the
evident glee expressed by many people.

As discussed previously, scapegoating involves heaping excess guilt
onto other individual(s), often in an effort to deflect guilt from those
participating in scapegoating onto the victim(s). Victims of
scapegoating often aren’t completely innocent, but they aren’t as guilty
as scapegoaters believe them to be. We all sin, and we all have thoughts
about which we are ashamed, which make us all susceptible to the
temptation to participate in scapegoating. How can we discern necessary
and just violence from violence that has its roots in scapegoating?

One way is to seek the counsel of others, since they can be more
objective. However, since the anger and hatred that characterizes
scapegoating is mimetic, family and friends are often caught up in the
same sentiments. Introspection through meditation or prayer can help
guide us to truth. If we feel good about the consequences of our
violence, there is an excellent chance that scapegoating has played a
role in our sentiments. If we have honestly sought nonviolent solutions
and, finding no alternative, genuinely regret the harm to one of God’s
living creations, then there is good reason to believe that we have
avoided scapegoating’s allure.

Another “red flag” for scapegoating is when the victims of violence
are dehumanized. Their personhood – their hopes, fears, desires, and
personalities – are denied. People define them as “dangerous” or “evil”
and deny their feelings. Further, dehumanization helps avoid thinking
about what might have motivated people to do harmful things. For
example, Bin Laden was undoubtedly responsible for terrible acts of
violence, but seeing him as “evil” helps avoid thinking about how
American policies and actions might have contributed to his
radicalization and the radicalization that prompted “suicide” terrorists
to kill Americans.

Often, dehumanization involves identifying the victims with nonhuman
animals. This reflects how many people deny the fact, evident on even
casual observation, that every creature is a person in his or her own
ways. Each animal has a distinct personality and each has genuine
individual desires. Though the specific dehumanizing terms vary,
universally those who perpetrate acts of violence deny personhood to
their victims.

I think we can strongly suspect that an element of scapegoating has
contributed to animal exploitation and abuse when people seem to derive
pleasure from their participation in harming animals. I rarely see a
hint of regret among those who financially support factory farming, for
example, even though modern animal agriculture inherently involves
extreme violence and cruelty. Our accounts of Jesus do not, I think,
show evidence of hatred or of deriving pleasure from the suffering of
others. They occasionally show anger, and he does denounce hypocrites
whose self-serving ideologies and practices harm vulnerable individuals.
Would Jesus approve of killing Bin Laden? Perhaps. Would he celebrate
it? I doubt it.